Childrens Franchise: Is it a Secure Future?

Children are the future but are they the future for your business? Kids, as I’m sure you are aware, are without a doubt the most energic, emotional and unpredictable customers you can have in a business and for this reason you need to be sure this is the right franchise for you. However, let’s not forget the rich experiences that this franchise could give you which is unlike most. You have the chance to release your inner child and arrange activates like playing games, singing or reading a book. Children’s franchises offer aspiring franchisees the unique ability to do the things you enjoyed as a child whilst making money so, if you have patience and stamina needed for this, then there are plenty of different opportunities out there to choose from.

Are Children’s Franchises a safe investment?

To understand if something is a safe investment you need to determine how the market could change and if the franchises themselves have the interest desired now and will still have in 10 years. As they’re many options available for children’s franchises, we can’t discuss them all in great detail but they generally fall into three categories: Entertainment, Childcare and Education. Each of these categories are often supplied by schools in some way, or at least they were. One of the major issues facing schools today is balancing the budget; the priority will always be teaching and academics over extra-curricular activities. The market is telling us that extra-curricular activities are taking the hit. According to Time.com, parents have been increasing their spend in after school activities because they are now less likely to be provided by schools. With the lowest increase in parent spend coming from the youngest children at 3%, it appears that parents with teenage children are affected the most with a much larger increase of 10%.

Netmums.com held a survey to parents which asked how often their children do extra-curricular activities in a week and here are the results:

0 activities – 6.67% of children

1 activities – 17.95% of children

2 activities – 27.18% of children

3 activities – 23.08% of children

4 activities – 10.77% of children

5 activities – 8.21% of children

6 activities – 1.03% of children

7 or more activities – 5.12% of children

These results, combined with the increase in spend, indicates that children still want and do extra-curricular activities despite the cost going up, which shows that interest in this market is high.

The Future of Children’s Franchises

The trend in the UK is that parents now want to have both a professional and family life, but unfortunately the day may not hold enough hours to do both to the level you desire. This has created a demand for places that can take care, entertain or educate children. This can be seen in local authorities and private clubs which frequently are oversubscribed and have long waiting lists which often results in grandparents being required to jump in and help. If you consider that, grandparents have the most disposable income over any of age range the fact that they’re looking after and entertaining their grandchildren, it would suggest that they might want to attend these extra-curricular activities in helping keep the children entertained.

With OFSTED putting pressure on schools, physical education has taken a hit on the curriculums in schools and this is unlikely to change, this combined with the thousands of articles reporting on how childhood obesity is becoming a large issue, it looks like the need for children’s franchise opportunities isn’t going anywhere soon. The main reason why this market may not be secure in the future is either because schools may start to create more extra-curricular activities that are government funded or the market becomes saturated with children focused businesses. With the current debt the UK has, and with governments constantly reducing cost to public sectors, it is unlikely going to give schools extra funding when it can be replaced by the private sector. If the market does become saturated then yes it will create competition issues but with any business if you have the determination to make your business work, you can.

Top Franchise Industry to watch

The information within this article presents a fair argument that Children’s Franchises are going to prosper now and in the foreseeable future so, here at Start Your New Franchise, we would put Children’s Franchises as a top Franchise Industry to watch. If you need further evaluation of the market, Entrepreneur.com has determined a very similar opinion of the market putting kid-centred franchises in their top 5 Franchise Industries.

With early-learning childcare programs, to children’s rugby franchises available you are to be sure to find something that will work for you, if that is, you have the stamina to handle 30 something children bouncing around.